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Nick Butt
Overlanding: Over-rated or over-looked?
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Nick Butt
Overlanding: Over-rated or over-looked?
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Steve Rock
Overlanding: Over-rated or over-looked?
Be prepared - placing traction mats under the wheels
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Steve Rock
Overlanding: Over-rated or over-looked?
Butt's Landcruiser and Cerruti's FJ on the trail
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Steve Rock
Overlanding: Over-rated or over-looked?
Dave Landry's well traveled FJ
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Mike Cerutti
Overlanding: Over-rated or over-looked?
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Mike Cerutti
Overlanding: Over-rated or over-looked?
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Steve Rock
Overlanding: Over-rated or over-looked?
Steve Rock's FJ in one of those perfect spots
By Steve Rock
“From the point of ignition, To the final drive, The point of the journey is not arrive. Anything can happen” – RUSH, Prime Mover, 1987, Neil Peart
Unfortunately not my words, that distinction goes to motorcycle riding overland adventurer Neil Peart of Rush fame, but they pretty much sum up the overland lifestyle.
For most people who travel overland, the journey is the real destination and self-reliance is key to its success. You don’t have to give up the day job, sell your home, pack up what’s left of your life into a motorized tin-box and travel the world for the next two years to call yourself an over-lander.
But you do have to be prepared, and anyone who ventures out unprepared is asking for trouble. Exactly how much you prepare depends on where you’re heading and what it is that you want to get out of your trip. Many of you will already be aware that Parks Canada are giving away free Discovery Passes to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday, which is great if you don’t mind sharing your little bit of wilderness with the masses, although it’s more likely that if you’re reading this you want to get away from it all.
To find that ‘perfect little spot’ and get a taste of the overland lifestyle, you don’t need to spend too much of your hard earned cash. In fact all you really need is a capable vehicle with enough room to lay down in, and a means of cooking your meals. Self-reliance is the key, no Tim’s on this trip, well maybe just the one on the way out but that’s it. And for your first trip, you could plan it based on something as simple as visiting a location that shares your family name, or maybe just picking a random hamlet and travelling there using only backroads.
Maybe you’re into other outdoor activities, like kayaker Mike Cerutti, who found that his car wasn’t able to get him to the more remote locales that he’d imagined it would, but the purchase of a 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser back in 2009 soon changed all that. Using back country maps and GPS, Cerutti was soon exploring further into the wilderness, discovering those remote spots that he’d never been able to previously reach.
Meanwhile, relatively-new-to-wheeling-but-already-hooked, Jason Butt was running around in a lifted 1981 Toyota pick-up but found it wasn’t practical for his needs. Because of that, and living quite a drive away from ‘real 4x4’ country, aka The Canadian Shield, a 1996 80 Series Toyota Landcruiser soon replaced the ageing pick-up and was quickly put to work as the daily driver and off road vehicle of choice.
Thanks to a mutual association with SONTT (Southern Ontario Toyota Trucks forum) Ceruti and Butt met, discovered that they shared a passion for the great outdoors, and embarked on a few short overland trips together. Quickly realising that their vehicles had several shortcomings in the home-away-from-home department, they began the serious business of equipping the rigs to enable them to explore further and discover more.
Traveling overland throughout Ontario as a team (or sometimes independently) they’ve spent anywhere from a long weekend to ten days on the road exploring, and Cerutti and Butt have respectively covered six and ten thousand kilometers overlanding during the past year.
The guys have got 2017 off to a good start with one memorable winter camping trip already under their belt that required a little winching to reach their secluded Crown Land campsite. With several other off road and back road excursions in the pipeline. Cerutti and Butt are really excited about the epic 1500km gravel road North Shore Tour that they’ve got planned for this summer. You can follow the exploits of Ontario Overland and the North Shore Tour on Facebook and You Tube.
Is it all really worth it though, for the cost of equipping an overland vehicle you could purchase a small travel trailer or take several extensive vacations south of the border, so why bother?
Well for a start Canada is one of the few remaining countries where you’re still able to roam relatively freely and explore remote wilderness areas. Surely that’s reason enough? Traveling overland also gives you a true taste of local culture, and once you’re off the beaten track you can wind the windows down and taste the freedom that only the overland lifestyle brings.
And then there’s the priceless memories that only come from sitting next to a crackling campfire, watching the Northern Lights, drinking a cold beer in good company.
You don’t need the full-spec rigs that Ontario Overland use to bring home a trunk full of your own priceless memories. But the more self-reliant you are, the further your adventures will take you and those memories will mean so much more because after all, the point of the journey is not to arrive as anything can happen along the way.
And that’s what makes overland travel so much fun.
Steve Rock is a full-time professional driver and an amateur writer and photographer, who during his thirty-five year career, has raced on two, wheeled four, and hauled eighteen wheels all over the UK, Canada and North America. He currently lives in Barrie, ON with his awesome FJ Cruiser, two teenage daughters and one daft dog.